Currituck County works on keeping its wide spaces open

Currituck County could be among the first in the state to be able to keep its countryside open and herd new homes to communities such as Moyock and Grandy.

But the growing communities may not want more homes than they are already getting.

A bill in the North Carolina General Assembly, if it becomes law, would allow Currituck County the right to transfer development rights, a planning tool used to contain suburban sprawl while still allowing rural land owners to get a good return on their land.

"It's another tool to help Currituck realize true nodal type development," said Owen Etheridge, chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners.

For example, a land owner in rural Shawboro could sell to a developer the rights of 100 acres in an agriculture zone that would be one lot per three acres, or 33 lots. The developer could transfer that housing density to 100 acres the developer owns in Moyock, an area that would allow one lot per acre. The developer would then be able to sell 133 lots instead of 100. The Shawboro land would have to remain open.

In planning jargon, Shawboro would be the sending area and Moyock would be the receiving area.

But residents in the receiving area may not want more homes, said Janet Taylor, a Currituck County commissioner who represents Moyock.

"That means an increased density in Moyock by the rights of someone else and not by the rights of people in Moyock," Taylor said. "I'm very, very leery of it."

It would not be received well in Grandy, either, said Commissioner Barry Nelms, who lives in Grandy. "I'm not in favor of it," he said. "It would put a lot of pressure on Grandy and Moyock that we don't need."

Transferred development rights can be an effective planning tool, but administration of the program can also get complicated, said Currituck County Planning Director Ben Woody.

The county would have to monitor transferred development rights and possibly have to enforce keeping land undeveloped, Woody said. Maps would have to be drawn showing sending areas and receiving areas.

Proponents cite Montgomery County, Md., as the model for effective use of the transferred development rights program. Located near Washington, D.C., the county has preserved more than 70,000 acres in part using the program, according to the Montgomery County Web site.

Currituck County's land use plan calls for more dense development in such communities as Moyock, Grandy and in Maple around the airport where there are already county services. In more rural areas such as Shawboro and parts of Jarvisburg, it calls for sparse development.

When the land use plan passed in 2006, rural landowners protested, saying they would not be able to get highest values for their land. Their farmland, with some tracts potentially worth millions, was expected to fund retirements and college educations.

Transferred development rights can resolve some of that problem, but farm owners would still only get the value of land zoned for agriculture and not the much higher value of land zoned residential.

The bill for Currituck passed its first reading in the North Carolina House and went to the committee on local government on April 1. Another county could be included in another similar bill, said County Attorney Ike McRee.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com